Sewing machine drives



Dec. 9, 1958 w. J. PEETs 2,863,411

SEWING MACHINE DRIVES Filed Nov. 14, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l 2 ,1 /NvE/vroR W//bur J Peers BY /n LW 7W 27m/MEV Dec. 9, 1958 w. J. PEE-rs l SEWING MACHINE DRIVES Y .m .mi

2 I mm ...n Y m E M E EWE .M P R m W uw W .W 2 H @gym/27+@ v e SEWING MACHINE DRIVES Wilbur J. Peets, Watchungv,N.' J., assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a corpora- "tion of New Jersey `"applicatimi Novembervm, 19ss,seria1N0. 546,571

-7 ctaims. `(cl. i12- 220) The present invention `relates to a driving device for sewing Jmachines and more particularly to a two-speed driving device for a familyftype sewing machine. The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved two-speed driving ratio power trans-mission means for a familyftype sewing machine between the drive` means `and the main power shaft of the machine.

Having `inmind the above and other objects that will be evident from an understanding of this disclosure, the invention comprises `the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts as illustrated in the presently `pre- .ferred` embodiment of the invention which is hereinafter\ set forth in such detail as to enable those skilled in the art readily to understand tghe function, operation, con- .,struction and advantages `of it when read in conjunction Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken,

substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. l.

"With reference to the drawings, there is illustrated a standard 1 and a bracket-arm 2 of the frame of a family-type sewing machine. The open upper part of the bracket-arm 2 is closed by a cover plate 3 which is secured to the bracket-arm by screws `4 threaded into a boss on a web 5 which defines a circular recess 6 extending into the bracket-arm from the standardend of the machine. A main shaft 7 is journaled longitudinally of the bracket-arm 2, one of the bearings 8 therefor being supported by the web 5 at the bottom of the recess 6. Themain shaft 7 is arranged centrally of the recess 6. Mounted upon the endof the shaft 7 is a hand wheel 9 having an elongated hub 10 in the form of a sleeve that is journaled on the shaft 7 for rotation. The hand wheel 9 is normally locked to the shaft by a clutch comprising a clutch disc or washer 11 held against rotation relative to the shaft 7 by ears 12 engaging in grooves 13 in the shaft and having three punched lugs 14 equally spaced angularly that engage the outer face of the hand wheel 9` The clutch washer 11 is tightened against the hand wheel by a clutch nut 15 that is screwed onto the threaded end of the main shaft 6 and the end of which bears against three punched lugs 16 equally spaced angularly on the washer 11. limited by a screw 17 threaded through the nut 15 and cooperating with three studs 18 equally spaced angularly on the washer 11. The studs 18 are, in the usual manner,

' disposed in the path of rotation of the screw 17so that 4when the nut 15 is tightened against the washer 11 to lock the hand wheel 9 to the shaft 7 for normal sewing vUnited VStates Parent 0 f" Rotation of the nut 15 is 2,863,41 l Patented Dec. 9, .1.958

2 and the screw 17 is inserted therethrough, it will be be.- tween one of the studs 18. Thus, rotation of the nut `15 to loosen the same will be limited to a position in which `the hand wheel 9 is only `free `to rotate on the `shaft 7 and cannot be withdrawn. The lugs 14 and 16 are designed by virtue of the fact that there arethree of each equally spaced angularly about the washer to provide for self aligning of the washer 11 with respect to the h and wheel 9 and nut 15.

The illustrated machine is designed to be driven` anelectriomotor mounted within the frame, which motor is not herein shown since it is the same as in my prior Patent No. 2,617,375, Nov. 1l, 1952. For purposes of the present disclosure it is necessary only to point out that the drive motor includes a vertically disposed shaft. 19 that has a worm 20 secured by a screw 21 tothe upper' end thereof.

`Mounted for rotation on the hub 10 of the hand wheel 9 is a wor-m gear 22 that meshes with the worm 2G on the motor shaft 19 and is held on the hub 10 by a retaining ring 23 seated in a groove 24 in the hub 10. Disposed on the hub 10 between the gear 22 and the hand wheel 9 isa planetary gear unit comprising a planet gear carrier 25 having an annular groove 216 in the face adjacent the gear 22. A circular leaf spring 27 is disposed in the groove 2 6 and has one end anchored to the carrier 25 by a stud 2,8 about which the end of the spring 27 is looped. The opposite end of the spring is formed into a loop 29 that is designed to receive the end of a stud 36 mounted in the gear 22. Thus, the

`gear 22 is connected to the carrier 25 for unitary retation through the resiliency of the spring 27 which therelay-reduces the loading shock to the motor shaft 19.

The carrier 25 has an enlarged radial slot 31, Fig. 6, extending inwardly from the periphery. The slot 31 is closed at the side adjacent the gear 22 by a web 32 in which is formed an aperture 33. One end of a pinion shaft 34 is journaled in the aperture 33 and the other end of the shaft 34 is journaled in an aperture 35 in a closure plate 36 secured to the face of the carrier 25 opposite from the gear 22 by screws 37 extending through apertures 38 in the plate 36 and threaded into the carrier 25. A double planet pinion 39 is journaled on the shaft 34 and includes a small planet pinion 40 and a large planet pinion 41. The pinion 40 meshes with a sun gear 42 journaled on the hub 10 and coupled to the hub in one direction of rotation by a one-way clutch comprising a roller 43 seated in a radially inclined groove 44 in the periphery of the hub 10, and urged toward its clutching position, or in other Words, the shallow end of the groove 44 by a pin 45 seated in an aperture 46 in the wall of the groove 44 at the deep end, and biased outwardly of the aperture 46 by a spring 47. The one-way clutch serves to unload the gear train from the hand wheel when it iS desired to turn the machine 'manually when it is in the low speed drive. It will be obvious that the gear train is for practical purposes irreversible since the drive ratio in reverse is so great that the normal friction would substantially lock the train.

T-he pinion 41 meshes with a reaction gear or control sun gear 48 journaled on the hub 10 for rotation relative thereto. A control disc 49 is mounted on the hub of the control gear 48 and is secured thereto for rota- The control disc 49 is adapted to be locked for rotation with the hand wheel` 9 or locked stationary with respect to the frame. Toward this end, there is provided a pintype clutch comprising a plunger `54`mounted in the hand wheel 9 for axial sliding `movement and `adapted to be projected into a radial slot 55 in the disc` 49. To lock 3 I the control disc 49 to the frame there is provided a brake comprising a bell crank lever 56 pivoted on a pivot pin 57 carried by the cover plate 3. The lever 56 operates through a slot in the cover plate 3.and has an actuating arm 58 and a plunger-engaging arm 59. As seen in Fig. 5, the arm 59 is adapted, when moved from the full line position to the dotted line position, to swing through the slot 55 to engage the end of the plunger 54 to slide the same axially out of the slot 55, moving the plunger 54 from the full to the dotted line position. The plunger 54 has an enlarged annular ring 60 which limits the outward movement of the plunger 54.

In operation, for normal sewing, the planetary unit is locked by inserting the plunger 54 into the slot 55 in the disc 49. Thus, the control gear 48 is locked against rotation relative to the shaft 7 and the pinions 40 and 41 will be held against rotation relative to their respective gears. In this condition, the motion imparted to the carrier 25 by the gear 22, through the spring 27, is transmitted directly to the hub 10 and thence to the shaft 7 through the clutchwasher 11. Whenev'er, it is desired that the machine be limited t-o a relatively slow operating speed, such as for darning,'the hand-wheel 9 is turned to align the slot55 with the arm 59 of the lever 56 and the bell-crank lever 56 is then moved fromtthe full line position in Fig. 5 to the dotted line position by pressing on the arm 58. This causes the end of the arm 59 to enter the slot 55 against the end of the plunger 54 and to push the end of the plunger 54 out of the slot 55. The arm 59 of the lever, when seated in the slot 55, locks the control disc 49 to the frame of the machine and thereby holds the gear 48 against rotation with the hub 10. Thus, the gear 48 is fixed so that the pinion 41 will Walk around the periphery thereof when the carrier 25 is rotated.

Rotation o-f the pinion 41 rotates the pinion 40 which is in mesh with the sun gear 42 which is in turn clutched -to the hub 10 of the hand wheel 9. Because of the differences in the ratios between the pinions 40 and 41, and gears 42 and 48, the shaft 7 will be rotated at a speed substantially reduced from the speed of rotation of the gear 22.

A further advantage derived from the disclosed construction is that it is adapted to be applied to some existing machines or can be readily interchanged with a conventional one-speed drive without 4any modications in the machine frame. Reference is again made to my prior Patent No. 2,617,375. The drive mechanism therein disclosed comprises a unit lincluding a balance wheel having -a hub and a drive gear mounted upon the hub, the unit being adapted to be inserted into and removed from the hub. The construction herein disclosed comprises F .units can be made completely interchangeable so that the two-speed drive unit in accordance with the present invention can be substituted into machines originally provided with the one-speed unit.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However,'it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to a preferred embodiment of my invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

l. In a sewing machine having a frame, a main shaft journaled in said frame, a hand wheel journaled on said l main shaft and having an elongated hub, a clutch for conv necting said hand wheel to said main shaft for rotation,

4 v and a planetary gear unit mounted upon said hub and comprising driving, driven and reaction elements, operative connection between said driven element and said hand wheel for rotating the same, means for rotating said driving element, and means for selectively restraining rotation of said reaction element and for clutching said reaction element to said hand wheel for unitary rotation. l Y

2. In a sewing machine having'a frame, a main shaft journaled in said frame,-a hand wheel journaled on said main shaft and having'an elongated hub, a clutch for connecting said hand wheel to said main shaft for rotation, means for driving said sewing machine including a rotary driving element disposed in said frame, a planetary gear unit interposed between said r-otary driving element and said hand wheel comprising a sun gear mounted on said hub and operatively connected to said hub for driving the same, a reaction gear journaled on said hub for rotation relative thereto, a planet gear carrier journaled on said hub and operatively connected to said rotary driving element to be driven thereby, a double planet pinion journaled in said carrier and having the pinions thereof in mesh with the sun gear and the reaction gear, and means for selectively clutching said reaction gear to said hand wheel for unitary rotation and for braking said reaction gear to restrain rotation thereof.

3. lIn a sewing machine having a frame, a main shaft journaled in said frame, a hand wheel journaled on said main shaft Iand having an elongated hub, a clutch for connecting said hand wheel to said main shaft for rotaand in mesh with said driving gear, a planetary gear unit interposed between said driven gear and said hand wheel comprising la sun gear mounted on said hub and operap tively connected to saidhub for driving the same, a reaction gear journaled on said hub for rotation relative thereto, a planet gear carrier journaled on said hub and operatively connected to said driving gear to be driven thereby, a double planet pinion journaled in said carrier and having the pinions thereof in mesh with the sun gear and the reaction gear, and means for selectively clutching said reaction gear to said hand wheel for unitary rotation and for braking said reaction gear to restrain rotation thereof.

4. In a sewing machine having a frame, a mainv shaft journaled in said frame, a hand wheel journaled on said main shaft and having an elongated hub, clutch means for connecting said hand wheel to said main shaft for rotation, means for driving said sewing machine including a driven gear journaled o-n said hub, a planetary gear unit mounted on said hub between said driven gear and said hand wheel comprising a planet gear carrier having a bore of a diameter larger than the diameter of said hub and a radial slot extending outwardly from said bore, a sun gear mounted on said hub within the bore of said carrier and operatively connected to said hub for driving the same, a reaction gear journaled on said hub within the bore of said carrier, a double planet pinion journaled in said carrier within said slot and having the pinions thereof in mesh with the sun gear and the reaction gear, means for operatively connecting said driving gear to `said carrier for rotation, and means for selectively clutching said reaction gear to said hand wheel for unitary rotation and for braking said reaction gear to restrain rotation thereof.

5. In a sewing machine having a frame, a main shaft journaled in said frame, a hand wheel journaled on said main shaft and having an elongated hub, clutch means for connecting said hand wheel to said main shaft for rotation, means for driving said sewing machine including a driven gear journaled on said hub, a planetary gear unit mounted on said hub between said driven gear and hand wheel comprising a planet gear carrier having a bore of a diameter larger than the diameter of said'hub and a radial slot extending outwardly from said bore, a sun gear mounted on said hub within the bore of said carrier and operatively connected to said hub for driving the same, a reaction gear journaled on said hub within the bore of said carrier, a double planet pinion journaled in said carrier within said slot and having the pinions thereof in mesh with the sun gear and reaction gear, a control disc secured for rotation to said reaction gear, a retract# able plunger mounted in said hand wheel and arranged to engage said control disc for securing the same to the hand wheel for rotation, and a brake means carried by said frame and arranged to engage said control disc for locking the same against rotation, said plunger and brake means being interrelated to throw out each upon actuation of the other.

6. In a sewing machine having a frame, a main shaft journaled in said frame, a hand wheel journaled on said main shaft and having an elongated hub, clutch means for connecting said hand wheel to said main shaft for rotation, means for driving said sewing machine including a driven gear journaled on said hub, a planetary gear unit mounted on said hub between said driven gear and hand wheel comprising a planet gear carrier having a bore of a diameter larger than the diameter of said hub and a radial slot extending outwardly from said bore, an inwardly directed flange on said carrier at one end of said bore and a plate secured to said carrier at the other end of said bore, said plate having a bore less than the diameter of the bore in the carrier, a sun gear mounted on said hub within therbore of said carrier and operatively connected to said hub for driving the same, a reaction gear journaled on said hub within the bore of said carrier, said ilange and plate holding said gears against axial sliding relative to said carrier, ,a double planet pinion journaled in said carrier within said slot and having the pinions thereof in mesh with the sun gear and the reac- 6 tion gear, means for operatively connecting said driving gear to said carrier for rotation, and means for selectively clutching said reaction gear to said hand wheel for unitary rotation and for braking said reaction gear to restrain rotation thereof.

7. planetary gear drive unit for a sewing machine comprising a sewing machine hand wheel with an elongated hub having a shaft receiving bore, a drive gear journaled on said hub, a planetary gear unit mounted on said hub between said drive gear and hand wheel comprising a planet gear carrier having a bore of a diameter larger than the diameter of said hub and a radial slot ex tending outwardly from said bore, a sun gear mounted on said hub within the bore of said carrier and operatively connected to said hub for driving the same, a reaction gear journaled on said hub within the bore of said carrier, a double planet pinion journaled in said carrier within said slot and having the pinions thereof in mesh with the sun gear and the reaction gear, means for operatively connecting said drive gear to said carrier for rotation7 and a control disc journaled on said hub and secured for rotation with said reaction gear, and means for selectively clutching said reaction gear to said hand wheel for unitary rotation.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 361,222 Jones et al Apr. 12, 1887 1,268,176 Stukart June 4, 1918 2,617,375 Peets Nov. l1, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 468,118 Germany Nov. 6, 1928 316,473 Great Britain Aug. l, 1929 327,726 Great Britain Apr. 7, 1930 165,924 `Switzerland Feb. 16, 1934 

